Well, the bugeye is just about ready for winter storage. My first year of
vintage racing with VSCDA up here in the Midwest was better than expected: 7
events with no "dnf's" and only one "dns". I wasn't very fast running a modestly
prepped 948, and I kept an open 4.22 rear in the car at every track. But we got
what there was out of the car by season's end, had a blast living out a
childhood dream, met alot of good folks, and that adds up to a successful season
for me.
But, there's always something a (new) guy just doesn't get.
I ran Hoosier A70-13 Street TD bias tires this year. I was pleased with their
general on-track performance, but it was the condition of the tires after the
race sessions that distressed me the most. It never failed that by the time I
got back to the paddock I had a terrible build-up of rubber on the tread
surface. At Road America, where there are 3 brutally long straights, vibration
was a definite problem. Even at shorter tracks with modest straights, similar
unwelcomed vibration was a problem due to this build-up. It seemed that I could
scuff most of it off the rears during a session, but the fronts never really
cleaned up very well. In-between sessions a knife worked well for the bigger
chunks, but that persistent layering...
I looked at them last weekend as I carried them down to the basement: complete
rings of this stuff go around the entire circumference of the tires in erratic
thicknesses from 1/16 to over 1/8". I thought to myself 'these suckers aren't
even round anymore'. They were brand new this spring and have healthy tread. I
can't imagine anything I could do to them would be worthwhile. Do I need to
rotate front to rear/rear to front between sessions next year (since the rears
do clean-up a bit)?
Any thoughts from experienced Hoosier users?
Thanks,
Greg
'58 A-H Bugeye #517
Cedarburg, WI
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